remains, every means is left behind, and the future consists in our
love of these divine souls for the people thus given to them, while it is far removed from natural feeling, is infinitely stronger than the love of parents for their children, and though it appears eager and hasty, it is not, because he who shows it is only following the movement impressed on him. 57. To make this clear, we must know that God did not deprive the senses and faculties of their life to leave them dead; for though there might be life in the centre of the soul, they would remain dead if that life were not also given to them. It increases by degrees, enlivens all the powers and senses which, until then, had remained barren and unfruitful, enlarges them in proportion to its gift, and renders them active, but with an activity derived and regulated from God, according to his own designs. People in a dying or dead condition must not condemn the activity of such souls, for they could never have been put in divine motion if they had not passed through the most wonderful death. During the whole period of faith, the soul remains motionless; but after God has infused His divine activity into it, its sphere is vastly extended; but, great as it may be, it cannot do anything of itself.
CHAPTER 2: THE LIFE IN GOD. 58. There is no more to be said here of stages; glory is all that remains, every means is left behind, and the future consists in our enjoying infinite life more and more abundantly. (John 10:10.) As God transforms the soul into Himself, his life is given to it more plentifully. The love of God for the creature cannot be understood, and his care cannot be explained; some souls He pursues ceaselessly, gets in front of them, sits Himself at their door, and delights Himself in being with them and in loading them with the marks of his love. He impresses this chaste, pure, and tender love on the heart. St. Paul and St. John the Evangelist felt much of this maternal affection. But to be as I have described it, it must be given to the soul in the state of grace of which I have just spoken; otherwise, such emotions are purely natural. 59. The prayer of the state of faith is an absolute silence of all the powers of the soul, and a cessation of every working, however delicate, especially toward its conclusion. The soul in that state, perceiving no more prayer, and not being able to set apart fixed times for it, since all such exercises are taken away, is led to think that it has absolutely lost all kind of devotion. But when life returns,